I struggled a bit with this week's 52 WEEKS PROJECT subject matter as I didn't want this coyote to look like a wolf or a fox and my experience with the coyotes from this region are of lanky, almost scraggly creatures. A couple of winters ago we had one living in our neighborhood. He had created a den down the street in someone's hedge and every morning that we had fresh snow we saw evidence of it with large tracks as he had wandered through the night.

As a totem animal coyote is known as a trickster, but not always in a negative light, but rather wise and humorous which brings to mind Cherokee author, Thomas King's book 'Green Grass, Running Water' that begins with tickster-god Coyote.

I like the idea that coyotes are flexible and creative, accepting what comes and making the best of things. They are spontaneous and joyful, clever and discerning, re-directing and guiding us onto the right path. They remind us not to take things too seriously, to find wisdom in experience, to be alert to opportunity. All good stuff.